Tactile Toolkit Activities
Five activities that use tactile methods to enhance collaboration
Dear collaborative discussion friends,
This week we are highlighting five activities that use hands-on techniques to help participants practice collaboration. Some activities are playful and use puzzle pieces, LEGOs, or crafting materials, while others use writing and physically moving pieces of paper to help participants better visualize a concept or practice a skill. All the activities in the toolkit have an activity key that indicates the level of the activity (beginner or advanced) and other characteristics using icons. Activities that use tactile methods are denoted with the following icon.
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This week's activities:
Activity 1.2 – Developing Collaborative Perspective
Activity 1.6 - Understanding Values in Context
Activity 3.3 – Awareness of Context, Bias, & Assumptions
Activity 5.5 – Identifying Knowledge in the Community
Activity 5.7 – Practicing Collaboration with Others
Five activities that use tactile methods to enhance collaboration
Activity 1.2 Developing Collaborative Perspective uses puzzle pieces to help participants understand that working collaboratively as a group can uncover valuable information and insights that might not be visible when working alone. Participants are first invited to individually guess what image a complete puzzle shows based only on the single piece that they have. They then describe and discuss their pieces in small groups, still without showing their pieces to each other, and share ideas on what the full image might be. Participants then show each other their puzzle pieces and this time venture a guess with their group as to what the complete image might be based on their collection of pieces.
This activity helps participants gain a deeper understanding of the limitations of any individual viewpoint, as well as a greater appreciation for the perspective of others and the valuable information and insights they can offer.
Activity 1.6 Understanding Values in Context uses slips of paper to help participants visualize how values are prioritized differently in different contexts. Participants are each given strips of paper with common values (for example security, community, responsibility, inclusion, and freedom) written on them. They are first asked to individually identify and rank their top five values by moving the slips of paper into the right order. Participants are then invited to share some of their top values and discuss in small groups how they define each value, helping them realize that often the same value can mean different things to different people. Participants are then introduced to a series of topics (for example, gun legislation, loan forgiveness, vaccination, and the death penalty) and asked to now reorder their top five values in the context of each topic. Participants are invited to share and discuss if the ranking of their values changed for each topic and why, as well as if they reinterpreted the meaning of any of the values in relation to the particular issue.
This activity helps participants visualize and gain a deeper understanding of what is behind the discussion of particular topic. Participants are able to see that often we share similar values and what is different is the way we rank or interpret different values in different contexts. By focusing on the values behind a someone’s position or opinion on a topic, it helps participants humanize and appreciate the complexity of others and their ideas.
Activity 3.3 Awareness of Context, Bias, & Assumptions encourages participants to reflect on their own and others’ biases and assumptions in a nonjudgmental way. It uses a visual and tactile method to help participants explore these assumptions and practice suspending them. Participants are given a controversial topic to discuss and asked to write down any preconceived opinions or ideas they have regarding this particular topic on a piece of paper. Participants now tape the piece of paper with these assumptions to the front of their table or desk. They have now literally suspended their biases and assumptions. Participants are invited to discuss and explore the meaning, sources, and context of these assumptions as a group. Having put aside their biases, participants are asked to then discuss the selected issue. They then reflect on what impact exploring each others’ biases and suspending their own assumptions had on the conversation.
Activity 5.5 Identifying Knowledge in the Community helps participants gain a deeper understanding of all the different sources of knowledge. Participants are asked to discuss and craft knowledge trees together that show the different things they have learned in their life so far and the different sources of this knowledge. This activity helps cultivate an appreciation for the various knowledge keepers in their community. Participants are asked to explore the value ascribed to these different types of knowledge and who or what benefits from this valuation. By doing this activity as a group, participants are able to expand on their ideas together and create knowledge trees that are more comprehensive and complete than if they did this activity on their own.
Activity 5.7 Practicing Collaboration with Others uses tactile play to enhance collaboration. Participants are invited to sit together around a table and start building their ideal city using LEGOs. While they are collectively building this LEGOs city, three participant or guests are invited to present 5 minute pitches for implementing changes in their community, workplace, or on their campus. Participants are then asked to share their own ideas or responses to these pitches in quick 2 minute elevator speeches. By engaging participants in a playful activity while discussing an important issue, this creates a synergetic and creative environment in which to explore initiatives related to a particular topic. It encourages them to listen from an open and collaborative frame of mind. This further enhances how participants work together to incorporate different ideas into a shared vision.
Upcoming Events
Registration is now open for our annual Collaborative Discussion Coach Summer Training! The cost of the training is $265. We are able to offer a discounted price due to the generous support of the Interactivity Foundation. Our programming should never be cost prohibitive. Please contact us if a scholarship is needed. Learn more and register here!
Looking forward to collaborating,
Ritu Thomas & the Collaborative Discussion Team